Queen’s speech focuses on infrastructure, housing and environment with only a nod on social care

The Queen has delivered a ten-minute speech in the House of Lords where she highlighted 30 laws that ministers plan to approve in the next few months. Elizabeth II did not draft the speech, which is prepared by the government. She focused on infrastructure, housing and the environment but experts say there wasn’t enough attention on social care reforms. She mentioned the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill to extend 5G coverage, a Subsidy Control Bill to set out post-Brexit plans for private companies, and tax breaks for companies based on the upcoming eight freeports already announced by the governments. In terms of housing, the speech included a Planning Bill and a Building Safety Bill, while the Environment Bill will entail new post-Brexit rules to protect nature. “The dearth of detail on adult social care in the Queen’s Speech is as unsurprising as it is disappointing. Instead we got a promise to bring ‘proposals’ forward. We’re now very nearly a decade on from the Dilnot Commission, which at the time recommended urgent reform,” said Sarah Coles, personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. “At this stage, we couldn’t really have expected much more. The government has been a bit preoccupied with other things since it pledged reform in 2019, and it will need solid cross-party consensus to be effective, which it couldn’t rustle up before the speech. However, we’ve been here before. The millions of people who need care, and the millions providing it, cannot afford for this particular can to end up being kicked down the road again.”